A free service providing visually-impaired Hertfordshire residents with talking books by post has been scrapped and will be replaced with subscriptions to a charity library.
The Cassettes for Blind People (CfBP) service has 378 regular users and is described in council documents as "running at capacity".
Hertfordshire County Council local and libraries cabinet panel met on Wednesday afternoon to approve the discontinuation of the service which costs the council £51,000 per year to operate.
However, the council fear the use of cassettes for the service has "no viable future" due to advances in technology and the declining availability of cassette players.
It will be replaced by subscriptions to a similar service operated by Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) which costs £80 per person and would free up funds for a further 180 users.
Councillor Chris Hayward, cabinet member for localism and libraries, said the switch would improve the service for its users.
He said: "We have made the decision to close our own service and replace it with subscriptions to the RNIB.
"That is a much more modern system which also provides users with the player to listen to the books.
"It will also increase the number of people that can use it."
All users who currently receive books from the CfBP will automatically receive a subscription which will be paid for by the county council indefinitely.
But the county council will not reimburse Hertfordshire residents with existing RNIB subscriptions, a move that would cost an additional £96,000.
The eligibility criteria for new applicants would be restricted so only those with a Certificate of Visual Impairment signed by an ophthalmologist.
New applicants will also be subject to screening for low income.
Cllr Hayward accepted that there may be some teething problems, particularly with older users but said the support service the RNIB offers would help keep these to a minimum.
He added: "The great bit about the RNIB is that they have specialised staff to guide people through it and help them get the system working.
"A lot of other local authorities have already done something similar to this."
The RNIB is a national charity providing services for blind and partially sighted people, the audio book service has approximately 19,000 titles in stock.
Books are provided by a special CD which allows users to bookmark a place on their DAISY player which is also provided by the charity.